Vulnerable
by ThnksFrThMmrs87
Summary: It's never easy to put yourself out there for love, but feeling vulnerable can make you do things you never meant to do. It's up to you to decide if they're good or bad.


Note From The Author—It's going to seem at first like you're coming into this story in the middle, because in a way you sort of are. I promise that in a few minutes in it will make absolutely perfect sense, so stick with it. : ) Thanks and enjoy. Oh yeah, references to the firefighter Stella was flirting with a few episodes back as well as the baseball game she was evidently practicing for.

"Drowning your sorrows?"

Flack looked up at Danny, just barely resisting showing him his middle finger. "And if I am? Why the hell should you care?"

He took a seat, waving off the bartender when he asked what he wanted. "Saw what happened with Stella earlier today. Doesn't seem like you'd have a whole lot of sorrows to drown."

"If you're here you also know exactly what happened five seconds before and after what you saw today. If you know that, you know exactly how many sorrows I've got to drown."

Danny did know what had happened. He'd heard Stella ranting to Lindsay in her office, so it had been difficult not to know what was going on. "You screw things up Flack?"

Don's blue eyes flashed fire at his best friend. "You? You of all people are going to try and give me relationship advice right now?" he asked. "I'm pretty sure I'd be an idiot to take it."

"You're probably right," Danny granted sadly.

There was hurt in his eyes, and Flack felt like a complete bastard for putting it there; especially since he knew just how hard Danny had been working to make things right with Lindsay. "I'm being a bastard Dan. Look I did screw up."

"I know you did. My advice, though you can obviously choose to take it or not; talk to her Flack. Look, we both know you've been waiting for Stella for a while now. Looked to me like you finally got a chance to have her in your life."

"I blew it Dan," he said, shaking his head and taking another sip of his beer.

He nodded. "Yeah, you did. But take my word for it Don, take care of it now." He stood up and tucked his hands into his pockets. "Don't do like I did and wait so long that you screw it up so bad you can't turn back." Danny was at the door a few seconds later, and he passed Stella on the way in, nodding to her. "He's all yours. Hear him out if he's willing to talk Stella."

She had come there hoping for that exact thing so she nodded to Danny. When he walked out she made her way slowly to the bar and slid onto the stool next to Flack. "Hey, Detective," she said quietly.

Don turned to look at her and smiled just a bit sadly. "Hey."

Stella turned her body to face him leaning against the bar with her head resting on her hand. "So," she began. "There's this guy."

"Really?" Flack asked, not sure where she was going with this whole thing. "A good guy?"

She nodded. "A pretty spectacular guy, but kind of an idiot sometimes."

"Sounds familiar."

"Yeah, I'll bet." She sighed. "So here's the thing. Today this guy…"

He broke in. "The spectacular idiot?"

"That one," Stella told him with a smile. "Today he picks this fight with me about a firefighter I was evidently flirting with at this police, fire baseball game."

"Sounds pretty stupid."

Stella smiled. "It was pretty stupid. But see the thing is this fight he picked with me got him to do what I've wanted him to do for a really long time."

Flack couldn't hold back a grin. "And what was that?"

"Well, he sort of slammed me up against a wall right in the middle of the lab and kissed me until I couldn't really see straight." She grinned right back at him, but it was replaced rather rapidly with a look of disappointment. "But after that things went downhill pretty quickly."

He set his beer down and turned to face her, his eyes sad when they met hers. "I'm a complete screw up Stell."

It didn't surprise her that the charade ended that quickly. "You did a pretty good job of ruining the moment, that's for sure."

"I completely lost control today. I had you up against a wall in broad daylight. God only knows what would have happened if we hadn't been in full view of the rest of the lab; and I'm not an idiot, I know that I hurt you. That gasp when you hit the wall wasn't anything other than pure and simple pain, and those marks on your arms were just completely…"

She shook her head. "Did you hear me complaining?"

His eyes went dark. "Stella, I saw exactly what you went through after Frankie and the last thing I ever want to do is hurt you."

"What happened today was nothing like what happened in my apartment that night Don. Today I was a willing participant, and the reason I didn't say anything was because I was too wrapped up in you to even notice the five seconds of pain."

Flack scrubbed a hand over his face, not sure what to do. "I acted like a complete jackass."

"Yeah, you did. You said some relatively asinine things after you let go of me, and I can't seem to figure out why."

He shook his head. "Damn it, I felt totally vulnerable, and I hated it."

Stella leaned forward to touch his cheek. "What's so wrong about being vulnerable?"

"Feeling vulnerable isn't necessarily a bad thing, but you were so calm about all of it. Feeling like I was the only one was my problem."

"Don, trust me when I say you are not alone. I felt like we were putting each other on the line today; I just wish you had stuck around long enough to figure out that it was worth it."

His hand went to hers, tugging it gently away from his cheek so he could run his thumb over her skin. "I'm here now."

She smiled. "You are, aren't you?"

"If you still want me, I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon."

"I still want you." Stella leaned forward again, meeting him halfway as their lips met, far gentler than they had earlier that day. "Still feeling vulnerable?" she asked after they parted.

Flack shrugged. "Amazing woman like you, I may always feel a little bit vulnerable."

Stella laughed. "Somehow I sense a but coming here."

"But…" He tugged on her hand to pull her off of the stool and into his arms as he stood up. "It's the last thing on my mind."


End file.
